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Smash Bros for Wii U & 3DS won't include a story mode

Smash Bros director Masahiro Sakurai told Japanese magazine Famitsu that the upcoming game will not include a story mode or cutscenes. And the reason? The internet, of course.

We understand when characters don't necessarily return in fighting game sequels. The roster does have to stay fluid, after all. However, here's a rather surprising feature being cut for the upcoming Smash Bros game for Wii U and 3DS: cutscenes.

Game director Masahiro Sakurai told Japanese magazine Famitsu that the upcoming game will not include a story mode or cutscenes. And the reason is quite surprising.

"Unfortunately, the movie scenes we worked hard to create were uploaded onto the internet," Sakurai wrote to the magazine (transcribed by Kotaku). "You can only truly wow a player the first time he sees [a cutscene]. I felt if players saw the cutscenes outside of the game, they would no longer serve as rewards for playing the game, so I've decided against having them."

The CG movie team at Nintendo isn't going to be completely unused, however. Instead of having a story mode, Sakurai promises to have intro video sequences for every character. At E3, Nintendo introduced the Wii Fit Trainer with a movie--and because they released it to the internet, it's totally okay.

Still, for fans of the franchise, the news must come as a step backwards. Subspace Emissary for Wii was special not only for bringing together so many different franchises in one narrative--but for being penned by Final Fantasy 7's Kazushige Nojima.